Chapter 39: You just lit a flame Part 1

Balo's POV

“Sir Balo, The men you have asked to be dispatched are on their way. Are you ready to leave sir?” He asked me standing rigid in front of me.

“Ok, let’s go check what’s going on boar town. Everyone! Let's go! Let's go in pairs but keep a distance." I tell them. It's better to stay far apart since the paralyze skill has an area of limit as Junpei told me. Even when his level increase, the area it affects stay the same. Only the duration of being paralyzed increases. If Rikimura is still around the area, it’s better for all of us to be at a distance. We can easily aid those who become frozen due to his skill. But if we’re all paralyzed at the same time, it will be too dangerous especially if Rikimura is alive and kicking. I ordered most of the boys to stay in the rear. Junpei and I stay in the front and the girls placed themselves in the middle as we walk towards boar town.

We walked through the forest in silence thinking that Rikimura can be watching us at any moment. I told everyone to be wary of their surroundings and call out any movement they see. We decided to not wait around for Yasu and even when Hiroko protested, my orders were absolute. She ended up coming with us probably recalling her unwanted memories of her fated encounter with Rikimura that happened a year ago. As much as we wanted to wait for Yasu, it’s too dangerous if Rikimura is alive and kicking. And it's not far from reality that Luro revived him for some sick plot twist within his game.

"Ah, there it is," I whisper as I see the sign of the boar town entrance came in plain view. As soon as we enter, we see people out and about as they run towards us as if we’re some kind of god to them.

"Oh! Lords! Please save us from this peril!" one man says as he kneels in front of me.

I kneeled in front of him and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry sir. You're all safe now."

I stood up and started walking towards the central plaza as he continues to bow towards us. As soon as I got close to some of the soldiers, their body went rigid as they salute me passing them. I gave them a slight nod and turned towards the captain who's walking beside me.

"Tell me, Captain, how bad is it?" I asked him.

"A couple of guards were seriously injured from the fight that turned the inn into rubble. Some of them succumb to their injuries since the town didn't have a healer strong enough to heal everyone on time. Especially the severely injured. Currently, there are five guards dead. Two from the battle of the inn while three were found stabbed to death in the stable at the governor's mansion. And the last casualty recorded was the governor himself. He was found dead in his room severely mutilated as if something…" The captain paused for a minute before continuing. "As if someone tortured him alive until he died. Blood was everywhere. The governor's son was in critical condition and has just woken up today. Also, there are some girls that went missing. The two maids from the governor's mansion and the girl that the governor's son was protecting which was last seen with the governor and the adventurer. We believe he took the girl and fled the town."

Tsk. Fuck.I whisper in my mind.

"Captain, can you bring me to the Inn," I asked him and he nods. He guided us towards a path and from a distance; we can see a pile of rubble with a couple of people working to pick up the debris to clear the area. The minute the innkeeper see me, he quickly walked our way and I greeted him with a slight nod.

“Hello. Sorry for the Inn.” I tell him and he waves to me indicating not to worry about it.

"Did ye find him? That chap needs to pay for his crimes." The innkeeper tells me and the way he talks brings back memories of the first time we met him when we stayed in this town a year ago.

“That’s why I’m here. You probably had a better image of what he looked like. Can you describe to me his appearance?” I asked him and I see he’s trying his best to recall his memories.

“Hmm. Well, the young lad isn’t a walk in the park. Demonic aura with a face that would make a girls heart melt. Youngin’ arrived in my inn, got a room, ate some fish and stayed in his room the whole time till he decided to destroy the inn. Dangerous fellar I tell ye. Didn’t even last for more than a night and my inn becomes rubble."

“Young fellow? He’s not old?” I asked him confused. As far as I remember, Rikimura should look way older than all of us.

“Ye, He ain’t much older than any of you young lads.” He replies bringing me back to square one.

“How can that be, I was sure he was way older than us…” I whisper as I look back at everyone.

“Are you sure it’s Rikimura they’re talking about?” Takumi asked.

“Maybe it is Rikimura but a different Rikimura. Like this world Rikimura.” Riki says and I turn back towards the innkeeper.

“Do you know anything else about him?” I asked and he shook his head.

“I told ye all I know. You should try askin’ the young miss from the boar shop. She dealt with him longer than me.” He says and I tell the captain to lead us to the boar shop, which wasn’t that far away. As soon as we got there, the shop was closed as the light from the inside where turned off.

“Closing at a time like this is only logical. Excuse me! Is anyone home?!” I shout at the window above us. In a couple of minutes, a girl opens the window and pops her head out to stare at us.

“Oh! It’s you guys! I mean lords. Hehehe~ you're lords now. Give me a minute." She suddenly disappeared and I can hear her coming down the steps from inside the store. The knob clicked a few times and the door swung open. “Come in, come in.”

We stepped right in the shop and it got bigger than what we remembered.

“Hello, can I ask you a few questions. Do you remember the last guy that was here? The one that created havoc in this town. Can you tell us what you know or remember about him?” I asked her.

“Hmm, well he was really good looking and came here to get a flame sickness potion. Didn’t have cash so he decided to give me a sword instead. That reminds me, it’s like the time you guys traded me a weapon for some money a year ago.” She says and we recalled the memory of finding out how valuable the swords was inside the dungeon we came from in the beginning.

“Do you remember what he looked like?” I asked her.

"Hmm, well as I said before, he was quite good looking. No older than any of you guys. Oh! He did have the same dimensional bag as all of you have!" She says with an excited expression.

"Dimensional bag." I caught my bag that materialized in mid-air and showed it to her. "Like this one?"

“Yea! He took out the swords from it.” She says eyeing my bag.

“Can we see the swords he gave you?”

“Well, I dematerialized most of them already but I do have one left I was planning to keep to replace my family heirloom. Give me a minute.” She went running inside a door behind the counter and we all waited around for her to come out.

“Guys, good looking, selling swords, our age, demonic aura, don’t that sound like Yasu?” Takumi asked and even I had my suspicions. The way they described him is far from Rikimura’s image in our mind.

Right before I said something, the clerk came back out holding a sword. “Here it is~”

“Whoa, is that a scimitar? Look at the curve of that thing.” Takumi says as he grabs the sword and started looking at it. “Holy shit, this is a legendary item! He just gave you this?”

“Y-yea. I tried to pay him more but I didn’t have enough funds.” The clerk says looking wary at the sword as Takumi swing it around. “P-please d-don’t break it.”

Takumi bowed in apology and handed the sword back to her.

“Damn, this just doesn’t make sense. I would hope it looked like one of the swords from the dungeon but, I don't remember seeing a sword like this in there." I whisper as I try to study the situation. If it were Yasu, it would have been proven if the sword she has is the one from the starting dungeon.

“Can you tell me the clothes he was wearing, the type of hairstyle?” I asked her even if I barely remember due to the whole situation when we met him.

"Hmm, well his clothes were worn out and actually have holes in them. He did buy new clothes almost buying everything I have in stock. His hair was a mess like he had never had a proper haircut."

“It can’t be Yasu. It might be the people that left the other adventurers you told us about.” Hiroko says and I see a worried look on her face. No matter how much she wants to deny it, everything seems to fit perfectly into his image except his name.

Rikimura? Why would these villagers know his name though? We never told them or anyone about him to all except Stella and some guards. And we specifically told them to never spread his name. Did Yasu use his name as a fake identity? I thought about so many different scenarios in my mind. I turned towards the captain and he gave me a salute the minute we lock eyes. “Captain, where the governor's body?"

"We are preparing him for burial. Come follow me my lord and I will show you." He says and I nod. We exit the item shop and bid farewell to the clerk who quickly locked the door. We went back towards the fountain and walked on a road that led uphill. We met at the gate of a mansion that was slowly opened by two guards who gave us a salute as we pass them. I can see a couple of guards gathered in one area towards a distance.

“What's over there?” I asked.

“That is where the corpses three guards lay. We will also prepare them for burial after the governor.” The guard standing around the area says as he saluted all of us.

"The ones that were stabbed to death?" I asked him and he gave me a nod in response. Without waiting for the captain to lead me, I started walking towards it and the minute the soldiers saw me, they all part way and gave me a salute. The minute I got inside the stable, the smell of fresh blood lingers around. I see three bodies on the ground as the color of their skin have disappeared long ago. Two men have multiple stab wounds in their chest while one has his nipple sliced off and an arm ripped off.

"Oh my god!" Ms. Sam screamed and ran past me as she checks them for a pulse. “W-who did this?!"

I see her face contorts with fury and it’s quite amazing how unfazed she is seeing the dead bodies. The captain looks at me and I nod for him to speak.

"There was a man that stayed in the town and within one night, he destroyed the Inn and killed a couple of soldiers including the governor while severely injuring others." He explained to Ms. Sam as she checks the corpses in front of her.

“Where are the wounded? Bring me to them.” Ms. Sam stood up and the captain looked at me again and I gave him a nod.

“Captain, she is someone who is above us as our guardian," I tell him making sure that they treat her with respect. "Anything she needs, please do take care of it.”

His eyes suddenly went wide and they all went on their knees. “Pardon my rudeness!”

Ms. Sam looks at me confused so I decided to go near her and whisper in her ear. "Ms. Sam, it's better this way. They will do anything you asked without hesitation."

I step back and she gave me a nod. She turns towards the captain, “Bring me to the wounded.”

The captain quickly stood up and saluted her. "Yes, your highness!" His body went rigid and turned towards a soldier behind him. "Soldier, Guide her towards the barracks where the injured soldier lay!"

"Kumiko-sensei, please go with her and heal the injured. Tobi, go with them." I tell him and he nods. Even if they revere her like royalty, her level is still too low and Kumiko-sensei has very little fighting capabilities.

They all left the stable and I turned back towards the dead bodies. Junpei also approaches one of them and inspect the man with a severed arm.

“Holy hell, this is brutal….” I see Junpei stops and stared at the severed arm. “Somehow, this part of his arm looks like it was cleanly cut.”

I take a closer look and I see the flesh was cut with a knife while parts of it seem like it was forced apart showing the ripped muscle.

“Maid clothes?” Akane whispers as she picks up what seems to be a maid outfit filled with dirt and blood.

Wait, don't tell me, …these guys… I started to get a hunch about what happened here.

"Captain, tell me what happened here," I asked him and he took a step forward while keeping his posture rigid.

“When one of the soldiers came to the stable in the morning to feed the horses, he found the bodies.” He explained to me. “We don’t know who killed them but we assume it’s the same person that killed the governor.”

“And these maid clothes?” Hiroko asked him and I can see she’s starting to get irritated.

“The head maid and her assistant are missing so we assume that those are theirs.” He said trying to avert her glare. “W-we assume they are taken by the same person that killed them.”

“Assume? Captain, I clearly see what happened here. These three soldiers either forced their way at the maids and were killed by them or were saved by someone killing them in the process. Otherwise, there’s no explanation why they are all butt naked.” I tell him and he looks at the situation again before speaking.

“Men! Round up all the soldiers that’s unharmed! We will question all of them!” He shouted and some of the guards ran out. “I will get this sorted out my Lord.”

Fuck. The last thing I want is this shit. I have enough to deal with already. I felt irritated as everything seems to slowly fall apart. We tried our best to give them protection and fix their way of life but somehow, I felt betrayed knowing that people we put to protect the village did this to the villagers.

"Captain, lead us to the governor's body," I tell him as I turn around and step out of the stable. “If these guys did something to the guards, do not bury them. Burn them or feed them to the wolves.”

“Y-yes, sir." He says and I can feel the nervousness in his voice. We all walked out of the stable and followed the captain towards the mansion. He led us towards the basement and the smell of blood lingered around the whole place. The minute we got close towards a door, I can hear screams from the inside.

"Pa! Pa! I promise Pa! I will avenge you!" The minute the captain opens the door, I see a man not much older than any of us crying towards a table where a white cloth covers something underneath. I would guess it's the governor’s body since blood has stained the white cloth. The minute he see's me, he ran toward me grabbing me by the arm.

“He must die! That Rikimura bastard must die! H-he did this! He killed my father! He must die!" He shouted over and over while crying and all I could do is a nod.

"My condolences. Do not worry, we will find him and make sure he pays for his crimes." I tell him but that wasn’t enough to calm him down.

“No! He must die!!” He shouted again and I can feel his grip is getting tighter. The captain notices and he pries off his hands off my arms.

"Relax, these are the lords that are in front of you. Behave yourself." The captain tells the governor's son.

"Captain, can you bring him to Ms. Sam and Kumiko-sensei and have him healed of all his wounds. If I need anything, I ask the maids here to fetch you." I tell the captain and he gave me a salute before leading the governor’s son who cried non-stop as they left the basement.

I approached the cloth and the maid standing around bowed, as I got closer to them. “Can anyone explain to me what happened?”

“When we went to wake the governor up, we saw his corpse in his room.” One maid answers me without showing any emotions or grief.

“Did you see anyone leave the room?” I asked her and she shook her head.

“We just saw his dead body.” She says as looks towards the cloth. Somehow, I felt like her eyes are telling me she’s happy. I decided to see for myself how severe the governor’s condition is so I placed my hand on the cloth to remove it. That's when the maid placed her hand on top of mine preventing me from opening it.

“My apologies, I just want to make sure you can handle the situation. His body, it's not in it's best shape.” She tells me and I can see she really means it.

“It’s ok. I’ve seen worse.” I reply remembering seeing Rikimura and seeing Yasu torture the ogre king in front of us. The maid slowly lifts her hand and I slowly lift off the cloth.

“urrrgghhh.” I hear everyone groan as they see what’s under the white cloth.

“My fucking god. What the fuck.” I hear Takumi says and I see Akane run out with Hiroko in the hallway to prevent from vomiting. Even I was disgusted and caught off guard by the condition of the body.

The governor’s body was severely mutilated. Basically, his legs and arms were gone as if it was ripped off his body. The maid has placed him back together as much as they can but it's still not enough as some parts are missing. His fingers and toes all bent the wrong way and his eyelids look like it was ripped apart by sheer force. Parts of his body have no skin as if someone peeled him like an apple. His nipples were gone and his dick was also missing. His hair seems like it was pulled off, as part of his scalp was ripped open.

“This reminds me of when Yasu ripped a goblins eyelids. Remember when Luro showed us a video?” Junpei asked.

“Yeah, that’s something not easy to forget. But why would he do this?” I reply.

“I don’t know. We aren’t even sure if it’s him. If it is, how did he get out under our noses?” Junpei whispers as he looks at me and I know

“That’s what I’m also wondering. Fuck this is weird.” Right when I was about to cover him back up, I notice his head was three times the original size. It looked like it will explode any minute. His throat is also bulging out as if something is stuck inside of it.

Wait, don’t tell me…I slowly opened his mouth and I noticed something was stuck in the back near his throat. I place my hand in and grab it. It felt disgusting upon touch and the squishing sound it makes doesn’t help. As I slowly pull it out, I notice his throat decrease in size but not by much. I kept pulling and when I finally got it out of his mouth, I quickly dropped it and it plopped into the ground.

“Ugghhhhhhhh! Fuck!" I tried wiping my hands clean but the feeling won't leave it. I don't know what came into me to pull it out but I regret pulling out his dick from his throat. "Fuck, if I had known, I would have never touched it."

"This is inhumane," Stella says as she comes into the basement peeking from the door. I sent her to get some soldier to place around town. I guess she just arrived. "Is that his…"

“Yea, I pulled it out of his throat. As you can see, his junk is missing off his body. It was probably cut off and then whoever killed him shoved it in the governor’s throat so deep it probably blocked his breathing. And I bet that’s not the only thing shoved in there.” I say as I look at the throat that still bulging a bit.

"Oh, my saints, who in the world have done this?" Stella says as she clamps her hand together to offer a prayer.

"I don't know but we need to figure it out," I whisper as I cover the body back up. We all made our way back towards the entrance and one of the maids escorted us to what seems to be the living room of the place. It looked like a fight broke out and the floor was destroyed as if someone dropped a heavy object on it. We sat around and told one of the maids to fetch the captain. I was given a container with water, soap, and a dry towel to wash my hands, which I did vigorously. The maids brought out drinks for us and they all left towards the basement to prepare the governor while one stayed behind just in case we need anything else.

"Seriously, what the hell is going on," Riki says as he takes a drink and snack on a sandwich.

“How can you even eat after seeing that?” Sawada says and Riki just shrugs. Even I didn’t have an appetite to eat after seeing the governor.

“Ok, let’s be real here, the one they’re talking about sound like Yasu," Takumi says and we all stayed quiet.

“No, it can’t be.” Hiroko protested as I see her staring at the table. “It can’t be him. Why would he kill innocent people? That’s a mistake.”

“But remember the video Luro showed us. And even we saw it ourselves. He fucking tortured a boss who begged nonstop to spare him." Takumi replies.

“But that’s an enemy.” She replies defending Yasu's actions.

“If he’s heartless enough to keep torturing an enemy that already lost the will to fight, he can easily do that to a human being.” Junpei but in their conversation and I sensed a tension arising between both of them and right when I decided to speak, Stella beat me to the punch.

"I don't mean to interrupt but we can't rule out the possibility it's him and we can't rule out the possibility it's not him. Overall, we need to find him and confirm. I hope it isn't him. But then again, if it isn't him, that's a bigger issue since now we have a crazy psychopath who strong enough to probably destroy the town running around in the forest." She says calming everyone down for a brief moment.

“Should we send guards around the area to search?” I asked them.

"I already did and station a few of around the town," Stella replied making me feel grateful to her.

"Thank you, and as for the people here. I don't think they're as innocent as we think Hiroko." I tell her and she looks up to me confused.

“What do you mean?” She asked me.

“Hiroko, think about it. Most of the soldiers are injured badly where if it was Yasu, he could have just killed them all. Then, there are the naked guards in the stable. Why were they naked in the first place in a stable where we also found ripped maid outfits." I stopped and brought my head closer to them and whispered, "If you noticed, the maids who're around the governor's body, they show no signs of sad emotions. They looked like they didn't care that the governor was murdered. Frankly speaking, they looked happy.”

"Yea that does sound weird…" Sawada whispers back. "I'm not taking the side of whoever did this but what if whoever did it, had a reason?"

“Ughhh, I thought we would just pick up new people, go meet Yasu, then go back to the gold city together. But now, everything is way off on what we planned.” I whisper as I take a glass and drink it in one go.

The captain walks in the living room bowing at all of us. "Sir, You were looking for me?"

“Yes captain, I will appoint you the temporary mayor of this town. If you’re able to bring everything back to normal and handle the town properly without issues, I’ll appoint you as the permanent mayor for boar town.” The minute I said it, his eyes went wide and he bowed and thanked me non-stop.

“Now, your first task is, brief us what actually happened here. Did you question the soldiers? Why did the intruder attack them all?”

“Ah, yes. After questioning them, I have heard some disturbing news from those who decided to come clean. The governor did some pretty nasty stuff in this town the minute he got here. He handpicked the girls to work in his mansion and, most of the guards here used to be bandits. I have heard from the wounded soldiers that the governor used to be a bandit.” He explained to me and what he said even made me shout in surprise.

“Who appointed him?!” I screamed and the captain hesitated to say. “Tell me!!!”

“U-um s-sir Balo. You did.” At that moment, everything went silent.

Did I? I-I-I don't remember. I say in my mind as sat back down.

“W-when? I don’t remember doing that.” I whisper trying to remember when I appointed him. I just thought the town itself elected him.

“U-um that is when a list of documents was presented to you to choose the person that will govern this area. Y-you were busy so you just pulled one out without looking and told us to appoint whoever name is inside the document." The captain said and it all started coming back to me.

Ah, I remember.I say in my mind. There was a moment where I had so much to do that they asked me to look over candidates for something and rather than looking, I just picked one in random to get it over with.

"It can't be. I did this?" I whisper to myself as I slump back in the chair. I place my hands on my forehead as I used my knees to hold them up.

I did this…I felt a strong wave of emotions suddenly surging through me and the heaviness feels like I’m choking. I feel someone’s hand started stroking my back and as I look over, I see Kumiko-sensei trying to comfort me.

“Balo, this is a mistake you can’t undo but we all make mistakes. We have to learn how to live with them.” Hiroko says trying to comfort me.

“Guys. I’m sorry. Shit, this is all my fault.” I say as I sat back down looking at the ground.

“Balo, I think our apology should go somewhere else," Takumi says and somehow, I know he’s right but the way he said it somehow made me feel a little bit irritated.

“I-I know. Captain. Please bring all the maids from this place, here.” I tell him and he gave me a bow and left to talk to the maids outside.

After a couple of minutes, all of them came into the living room and I told everyone to leave the room and let the maids sit down. I asked them to tell me everything that has happened and they hesitated at first. When I showed my expression towards the governor's wrongdoings, they all lightened up one by one and shared their experience under his rule. I don’t know how long it took to go through all their stores but after the second maid, it was hard to stomach everything in. Now I know why they seemed happy he died.

"What the fuck…" I whisper as I have my hands over my mouth. I can't believe I appointed someone like that to govern a town. I quickly stood up and faced the group of maids who are sitting around with a solemn look. Some of them have cried as they told me their stories. I dropped to my knees and bowed my head close to the ground.

“I’m sorry!” I held my head to the ground bowing at them as I apologize for my wrongdoings. Because of me, they all went through a lot. Because of my stupid action, this town has suffered.

"P-please l-Lord Balo. I-its, not your fault." One of the maids stood up and came towards me. "P-please raises your head."

I-it's my fault. I caused all of this. Who am I kidding? I’m not a lord. I’m just a fucking kid pretending to be an adult. I say in my mind as I slowly stood up.

“Captain!” I called out and he quickly came in the living room saluting me. “Captain, get all the soldier who the governor hired here. The ones who conspired with the governor to do this. Rip them off their ranks and throw all of them in jail!”

“Yes sir!” He quickly left and I faced towards the maids.

“You are all free to go. You do not have to work here. For those seeking work to provide for their family, pack your bags; I shall personally hire you to work in the gold district castle. And for those who don’t want to stay in this town, then come with me and I’ll help you all get settled in the gold city.”

I see all of them smile and I bowed towards them again one more time.

"I'm sorry, I know this won't be enough to help you all forget the hardships you all went through, but this is as much as I can do. If you seek money, I will provide. I will try my best to help you all." I slowly stood back up and I see their faces filled with tears and most of them cried their lungs out.

After hearing what the governor did to the maids in the shadows, they all left to go home and pack their things. They all decided to come back with us to the gold city while some of them decided to work in the castle while the rest decided to start anew. I ordered to jail everyone who conspired with the governor and the guards who didn't conspire needs to be re-evaluated. The captain gave me a salute and he left with all of the prisoners.

"Fuck, what the hell. Why are people so fucking messed up in this world?" Riki says as he slumps back towards the couch.

“It was my mistake. Because of one dumb choice, it affected the lives of a lot of people in a short amount of time.” I say with my gaze down the ground.

“Imagine, if, the governor wasn’t killed. Shit, he would have been much worse than Rikimura.” Takumi says and deep down inside, I know I owe thanks to whoever put an end to the governor’s reign.

“But, do you really think Yasu did all of this?” Hiroko asked and I just shook my head. I didn’t know what else to think. There was too much going on making a mess in my mind.

“Even if it is unbelievable, it actually happened. The only way to verify is to ask him directly. But that’s impossible for now, we don’t know where he is.” I say and silence filled the room once more.

“We got to look for him. We all can search in all direction. He couldn’t have gone far.” Hiroko says to us and no one said anything. I know what they're all feeling, going on a wild goose chase might lead us to chase something worse than a demon.

“That would be fine if we actually know its Yasu we’re looking for. What if it’s actually Rikimura? That’s really dangerous to face him alone. No matter how strong we are, if we’re paralyzed, we’re good as dead.” I tell her and I see her with a sad expression dejected at the possibilities.

“So what do we do now?” Junpei asked as he looks at me and I can feel everyone’s gaze turn towards me.

“For now, we need to fix the issue in this town. I appointed the captain to govern this area. Also, we need to re-evaluate things everywhere. If this is happening under our noses, imagine other places. I need to make sure I didn't make the same mistake everywhere." I tell them and they all nod except for one person who, all this time, has an uninterested expression.

“So, what are you saying?” Takumi asked.

“We need to go back into the gold city. After that, we will travel to each and every town that’s under our rule and check if it’s being run properly. This way, we can strengthen the relationship of the people towards us and also our system.” I tell him and it seems like he didn’t like what I said.

“Tsk, I knew you were going to say that." I hear him mumble as he leans back onto the couch. The last thing I want is to see his attitude and it made me furious.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked him to raise my voice a little bit.

"It’s exactly what I mean." He replies back at the most condescending tone making me stand up on from my seat.

“Look, I understand you don’t want to be part of this, but this is something we need to fix. We are a team.” I tried to calmly tell him trying not to escalate the situations since I started feeling everyone get tense.

“Yeah sure, a team.” He replied again with an uninterested tone and I decided not to reply trying to calm myself. Trying to change the topic, I decided to ask him what he wants to do but he suddenly spoke words before I even got the first word out, “And as a team, our goal was different. Our goal was to find Luro, kill him, and go home. Not establish a fucking paradise and live here forever play pretending to be a royal figure.”

“Pretending? Open your fucking eyes. This is real life. We’re not playing a game here!” I shout at him as I abruptly stand up from my seat getting riled up at what he said.

“My eyes are fucking open!” He stood up as he faces me. This is the first time I’ve seen him this angry as he glared me down. “And the way I see it, you've been looking at the wrong fucking picture! If you want to be a king of the world? then that’s on you. Be the king all you fucking want, leave me out of this fucking bullshit.”

"Come on guys, relax," Sawada says and I sat back down trying to calm myself. Takumi cursed under his breath and rather than sitting back down, he started walking towards the door.

“Takumi, bro, don’t go. Let's have a rational talk about this." Junpei says trying to stop him from leaving.

"Rational? All the choices we've been making gets further and further away from out the main goal.” Takumi says as he swats Junpei’s hand away. “I told him before, this isn't something I wanted or planned. As much as ‘fun' this world is, I don't want to fucking stay here forever. This planet isn’t my home."

“Just fucking let him go. He doesn’t want to be part of this? Fine. Let him go.” I say without looking at him.

"Come on guy's, let's not break apart," Sawada says trying to calm the situation, but my head is too hot to even calm down.

“You heard your so-called king, get the fuck out of the way.” Takumi snarls at Junpei who just brushed it off and stepped to the side. Takumi walked out the door uttering some words under his breath before slamming the door shut behind him.